Submitted to AR by: Kim Williams - Talent Manager, MTV Networks

Digital Killed the Video Star - by Adam Taylor

It used to be that, as a musician, only 10 percent of your career was up to you. As of the last few years, 90 percent of your career is up to you.”

Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby.com, wrote these words in his 2006 how-to guide for aspiring musicians. The figures seem to support his argument; the Record Industry Association of America reports that physical record sales in the United States plummeted almost 50 percent between 1999 and 2007.

But what if you want to be a rock star? Due to huge drops in profits, record companies no longer devote as many resources to looking for the next big thing, but concentrate on what can make them quick and easy money. Young musicians face a confusing scenario, with the traditional route to stardom hampered by elements that have little to do with musical talent or star quality.

However, some are adapting to this new way of life. Here are three ways musicians are continuing to make music, and, if they are lucky, careers.

Accepting digital promotion as a way of life

“I can’t imagine any bands getting by without utilizing the tools available on the Web,” says Marquise Lee, a coordinator with Agent 15, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting unsigned musicians. “Your Web strategy will be key, probably over talent!”

The notion of bands gaining popularity by distributing MP3 files and joining social networking websites isn’t new. In 2005, British indie-group The Arctic Monkeys was among the first linked to the trend, after selling out the 2,000-capacity London Astoria without a record deal. The band had built its fan base via MP3s and a MySpace account (though the musicians would later claim that their success was actually the result of fans ripping tracks off of CDs the group had given out for free).

Since then, numerous artists have been hailed as Internet phenomena: Indie-bands Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend found fame after being championed by audioblogs or established websites such as Pitchfork.com. Hip-hop star Soulja Boy set up his own YouTube channel and MySpace account long before joining a label. Many in the industry now call this sort of digital promotion vital.

Ariel Hyatt has worked in music PR since 1993. She launched her own publicity company 13 years ago and worked hard to promote her artists on tours the traditional way. However, in recent years, the number of CDs she mailed out yielded less and less publicity. Hyatt says, “It really felt like I was banging my head against a wall.”

In 2007, she changed the focus of her publicity company to online promotions, championing what she calls “Cyber PR.” Now, she calls Twitter “incredible” and says it allows fans to “really get the atmosphere.” She also prefers Facebook to MySpace. “MySpace was really just a bunch of artists, and a bunch of 15-year-old girls. There wasn’t much in-between, and as such, there was no space for grown-up artists. With Facebook, it is a personal service that adults can use.”

Hyatt suggests that bands use Facebook and other existing platforms rather than elaborate websites for themselves. “A lot of bands spend a lot of time on their own websites,” she observes. “What they don’t realize is that fans check these sites maybe two or three times a year. They check Facebook two or three times a day.”

There is one thing Hyatt believes is non-negotiable: “At this stage of the game, you must be willing to give away at least some of your music.”

“I think we’re over that now,” she adds. “Artists understand. They were really, really upset.”

Rejecting the major labels

During the nineties, artists could expect that if they attained a good level of local success, a major label’s A&R (Artists & Repertoire) talent scout might attend their show, and if they were lucky, sign them. However, with budgets shrinking and A&R divisions at the major labels continually slashed, the chances of getting a record deal the traditional way are shrinking each year.

“I’ve pretty much given up on major label A&R,” Hyatt says. “A lot of people used to think some kind of fairy godfather, ‘the music business,’ would come and save them. That doesn’t really happen anymore.”

While the death of the fantasy route may be tough for young artists to accept, with the advent of digital media, one of the major barriers to entry into the music industry — the cost of manufacturing and distributing CDs — has been removed. With this factor gone, it’s easy to wonder what purpose, if any, the major labels serve to an aspiring group.

Radiohead’s self-release of In Rainbows may be a case in point: While 64 percent of worldwide downloaders chose to pay the sum price of $0.00 for the music, according to the band, the group had done better financially than under its previous contract with EMI.

For artists at the other end of the spectrum, a band like Ten Year Vamp, an Albany, NY-based pop-rock group, is showing that a band itself can take on many of a record label’s functions, even at the early stages of its collective career.
“We haven’t actually sent out any demos or anything recently to record labels,” says Mark Rose, lead guitarist with the group, “only because in the past, the response we got has been, ‘We’re not signing any new bands. If you had sent something 10 years ago, we would have signed you.’”

Debbie Gabrione, the group’s singer-songwriter, echoes the statement. “It was kind of inferred to us that the record industry was changing. We were flying solo in the dark.”

In 2007, after years of trying the traditional route, Gabrione, Rose and the other members decided to take matters into their own hands. Forgoing major or even indie labels, the band sought to seriously promote itself and handle its own business. The members focused largely on the group’s website, using blog posts, podcasts and downloadable videos to feed fan loyalty. The website thrived on a sense of community.

In fact, the community was so strong that the band effectively decided to begin crowdsourcing a record label: Fans contribute money, ideas and energy toward the recording of a new album, in return for a share of the profits from sales. According to Gabrione, the project has been a huge success, giving the band around $20,000 to use to record, and the backing and incentive to look for a producer.

Ten Year Vamp is far from alone in its attempt to look beyond the traditional music industry. Indeed, third-party sites such as SliceThePie.com have tried crowdsourcing album funding, with varying results.

Other online resources include BandMetrics.com, a website that uses data analytics to help bands make decisions about how to market themselves online using data in an easy interface.

Bandize.com offers independent musicians an online platform with which to organize promotions, touring schedules and much more.

Andy Miles, one of the Bandize founders, sees the crisis in the music industry as a time of opportunity for musicians. “Never before have there been so many ways for a band to handle things such as manufacturing CDs, getting their music on iTunes, Amazon, etc… and printing and designing their own merchandise,” he says. “Just a few years ago, many of those things would have been handled by a record label, but in today’s music business, a band has the capability to take charge of them on their own.”

Even some of those who were very successful under the old system seem to agree. In 2007, Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records, the British record label known for acts such as Oasis and My Bloody Valentine, wrote an article for the British newspaper The Independent. Under the title, “Why I’m giving up my label,” McGee wrote, “I don’t believe in owning a record company anymore.” He concluded, “Looking to the future, as the majors decline, more bands will recognize that it’s the real music lovers who will help them succeed — the management, the live agents and the sponsors.”

Lowering expectations

Asked what he thought would constitute success in the changing music industry landscape, Ten Year Vamp’s Rose says, “I’ve thought of lots of different scenarios. If you go back 10 years ago there were some supergroups, U2, Bon Jovi or whoever, [but now] there are just fewer and fewer of them. The people who make it to the top of the charts nowadays have one album in them before they get dropped.”

The fragmentation of the music market has also had an effect, Rose observes. “There’s just so much more available to the public these days. I see the public not necessarily clinging to the major record labels anymore. That’s really widening the market, and it’s helping independent bands, not necessarily to make a living, but to have their own measure of success.”

Hyatt tells of one of her clients who took the risk of charging $10 a month for a subscription to his website. The site allows fans to download exclusive music, and all other forms of material and media. “He gets around 50 people a month, which may not sound like a lot, but it’s enough to pay his rent,” says Hyatt, before adding, “Well, obviously he doesn’t live in New York City.”

So what does this mean for music? Ultimately, the age of the rock star may be over, and music, or at least recorded music, may not be something likely to make you rich anymore. Some will no doubt mourn the loss, but perhaps it may provide a new democracy in music, rewarding those who work hard in the business and weeding out those who aim for just the money. Whatever happens, it’s clear the realities of being a musician are changing.

Ten Year Vamp seems to agree. Asked how being in a band today compares to the fantasies the musicians had as teenagers, Gabrione replies, “It’s completely different. I wouldn’t know where to start the list. Onstage, it’s the same I guess, but that only lasts for 45 minutes or an hour.”

Rose agrees. “When we are in the middle of certain songs, it really is a high school dream, that rock star feeling,” he says, before adding quickly, “The rest of it sucks!”

— Adam Taylor

Adam Taylor is a British journalist hoping to work in the U.S. His interests include culture and technology, and his favorite food is Haribo.